Anne G. Fisher, ScD, OTR, is Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy, College of Associated Health Professions, University of Illinois at Chicago

Merilee Freeman, OTR, at the time of this study, was a staff occupational therapist at Springer Educational Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio

Gabriele K. Lieberg, OTR, is a medical student at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio. At the time of this study, she was a staff occupational therapist at Springer Educational Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio

Terry Ellis Izraelevitz, MS, OTR, at the time of this study, was a graduate student at Boston University

Article Information

Learning Disabilities/Features

Research Article | January 1987

Concurrent Validity of Equilibrium Tests in Boys With Learning Disabilities With and Without Vestibular Dysfunction

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Six equilibrium measures were administered to 50 boys with learning disabilities, 25 with and 25 without suspected vestibular system dysfunction. Pearson product moment correlations were computed between test scores for the total sample and for each subgroup to establish concurrent validity between tests. Four correlations for the total sample and three for each of the subgroups were statistically significant. However, only 3 of the 10 correlation coefficients mentioned were greater than r = 0.5. The relatively low magnitude of many of the correlations obtained demonstrates that different tests of equilibrium measure different balance-related competencies, and that competence in one area does not indicate competence in another. Therapists evaluating equilibrium should administer more than one test. The tilt test used in this investigation did not correlate significantly with any other test. This suggests that tilt tests should routinely be included in the evaluation of equilibrium.